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The Early Word: Obama’s Foreign Policy Nod

By Ariel Alexovich December 27, 2007 8:25 amDecember 27, 2007 8:25 am

Congressman William Delahunt of Massachusetts, a leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is set to endorse Barack Obama today. He told the Boston Globe he was impressed with Mr. Obama’s willingness to talk with America’s enemies and with his original opposition to the Iraq war.

“If Barack Obama is elected president, I daresay America will present a new face to the world, will restore, simply by his election, hope – not just within the United States, but from all corners of the world, that America’s claim to moral authority is back on track and that our leadership in world affairs will see a renaissance,” Delahunt told the Globe.

Delahunt’s endorsement – Obama’s first from the Massachusetts congressional delegation – will be made as Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York spar about their respective foreign policy credentials. Clinton has argued that her experiences during her husband’s presidency, including extensive international travel, make her the better candidate to deal with foreign leaders and potential terrorist threats.

But Delahunt, declining to criticize Clinton by name, dismissed that notion. “Please do not equate experience with judgment. That’s what this is about,” Delahunt said. Voters should not “confuse experience with time in Washington,” he said, noting that John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton all had limited direct foreign policy experience before taking office.

Mr. Obama is scheduled to make a foreign policy speech this morning in Des Moines. For her part, Mrs. Clinton touted her experience on the trail yesterday, with a refined message. She repeated her arguments that she would be ready to be president on Day One, according to The Times’s Patrick Healy, emphasizing that if something unexpected were to occur, she’s the one who would be most prepared.

“I want you to ask yourself, who will be the best president? Who, if something happened that none of us can predict now, would be there able to respond and act on behalf of our country immediately? Who can use experience and qualifications and contacts and ideas and plans to get us moving together again? If you will go and stand up for me, I will stand up for you every single day in the White House,” she said.

Yesterday the candidates took their sugar-coated Christmas ads off the air and replaced them with typical election fare, although The Times’s Adam Nagourney notes that the new wave of TV spots had few direct attacks in them.

If voters had something of a respite from the campaign over the past two days, it surely ended Wednesday. Advertisements shelved for the Christmas holiday were back on the air, notably one by Mike Huckabee, a Republican and the former governor of Arkansas, which presented him as a “Christian leader.” Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Edwards both unveiled new advertisements summarizing their final campaign appeals, and Mr. Obama and Mr. Romney were planning to follow suit.

The advertisements to date were notable for the extent to which they avoided direct attacks. “Hillary Clinton: A New Beginning” was the tag line on Mrs. Clinton’s. The positive tone was evidence of the complications of running in a multicandidate field where an attack on one candidate could have the effect of driving voters to a third. Aides to all the major campaigns said they had tough attack ads on the ready should they prove necessary in the next few days.

Democrat John Edwards spoke out in Iowa yesterday against the totally legal issue ads that are really more like candidate spots in disguise. He made the remarks the same day as one labor organization started showing one that favors him, writes David D. Kirkpatrick of The Times.

“As for outside groups, unfortunately, you can’t control them,” Mr. Edwards said last weekend as he distanced himself from the actions of the group, known as a 527 for the section of the tax code it falls under. He would prefer the group “not run the ads,” he said.

But the Edwards campaign may have expected the support of the group, Alliance for a New America, set up by a local of the Service Employees International Union. An Oct. 8 e-mail message circulated among the union leaders who created the group suggests that they were talking with Edwards campaign officials about “what specific kinds of support they would like to see from us” just as they were planning to create an outside group to advertise in early primary states with “a serious 527 legal structure.”

G.O.P. candidate John McCain, gaining on Mitt Romney in New Hampshire, campaigned in Iowa yesterday — a surprise switch in his strategy to mostly ignore the state where he consistently polls in the single digits. The Times’s Julie Bosman reports that he received a standing ovation after the first part of a swing in the state, where the Republican field is jockeying for position.

Mr. Romney certainly hopes that the Arizona senator doesn’t win over the hearts and votes of New Hampshirites. The former Massachusetts governor, to whom a New Hampshire win once seemed a lock, spent Wednesday attacking Mr. McCain’s record on immigration, reports the Boston Globe.

Romney, who previously focused much of his attention on Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, ended a two-day Christmas break by launching repeated broadsides against McCain.

Attacking the Arizona senator’s initial proposal on illegal immigration, which McCain has since modified, Romney said: “Under his bill that he fought for, everybody who came here illegally could stay forever. Does he still believe that or not believe that?”

The Times’s Jennifer Steinhauer reports on the complicated family dynamic between Senator McCain and his seven children, who with one exception largely stay away from campaigning.

Asked during an interview this fall about his reluctance to bring attention to his expansive brood, the normally loquacious Mr. McCain, who is unabashed on any number of topics, seemed uncomfortable.

“It’s intentional,” he said. “I just feel it’s inappropriate for us to mention our children. I don’t want people to feel that, it’s just, I’d like them to have their own lives. I wouldn’t want to seem like I’m trying to gain some kind of advantage. I just feel that it’s a private thing.”

Candidates are in a tricky position when it comes to seeking the Latino vote while simultaneously trying to appear tough on illegal immigration, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Spanish advertising and outreach has been a big part of past presidential campaigns, as candidates tried to connect to the country’s Hispanics, who now number about 47 million. Before the 2008 campaign, most of these efforts came out only during the general-election campaign, and they often included little more than ads dubbed into Spanish, or a small, translated section of a candidate’s Web site.

Now, the outreach has begun earlier than ever, especially in the campaign for the hotly contested Jan. 3 Iowa caucus, where a few thousand votes can make the difference between victory and defeat.

Rudolph W. Giuliani has been issued a clean bill of health after a scary episode last week where he spent the night in a St. Louis hospital. A doctor declared that Mr. Giuliani is “in very good heath,” reports The Times.

The statement, from Mr. Giuliani’s personal physician, Dr. Valentin Fuster of Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, detailed for the first time the medical tests that were performed on Mr. Giuliani, a battery suggesting that the doctors wanted to rule out the possibility of stroke, heart trouble or infections like meningitis.

“Because of the significant headache, it was important to have as much information as possible and err on the side of caution,” Dr. Fuster said in the statement.

The presidential hopefuls — especially Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton — are deciding whether the support of out-of-state college kids would be a boon to their chances in Iowa, or a Howard Dean-style detriment.

As the caucus season enters its final week, campaign strategists – typically more astute in their analysis of success than of failure – are reexamining Dean’s 2004 collapse and taking away lessons, about everything from media strategy to door-knocking etiquette to staff dress codes, shaping the way they approach the closing days of the race.

The “perfect storm” strategy called for thousands of volunteers to blow into Iowa to turn out the 50,000 or so votes that had reportedly been pledged to Dean. But as the onetime front-runner began to stumble on his way to a third-place finish, those volunteers – distinguished by their glowstick-orange hats, stubborn fervor, and unfamiliarity with local concerns – seemed to represent all that was wrong with the campaign.

“It was sort of an invasion,” said Andy McGuire, a Dean activist and former lieutenant governor candidate now supporting Hillary Clinton. “Iowans shun that. They don’t appreciate being told how to vote.”

Along the lines of President Bush’s biking and President Clinton’s love of golf, the Des Moines Register looks at some of this year’s candidates’ favorite ways to exercise.

On paper, John Edwards is a budding Nike ad. The long-time runner also played basketball and football and coached his kids’ soccer and basketball teams.

But can he take it to the hole against fellow Democrat Barack Obama? Obama is a basketball enthusiast. He also takes time to work out every day on the court, or run and lift weights. He is known to take on a staff member who was a college basketball player. The rail-thin Obama played basketball in high school and briefly in college.

The Republicans can line up with a couple of fit and trim men of their own.

Mike Huckabee is well known for dropping 110 pounds from his rotund 280-pound body after he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2003. He has run four marathons and is signed up for the New York City Marathon in 2008. He is reported to have added 12 pounds on the campaign trail.

* John Edwards holds a meet and greet in Waukon, Iowa, makes remarks in Decorah and Waverly, Iowa, and attends a rally in Waterloo, Iowa.

* Rudy Giuliani holds a veterans roundtable and news availability in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and a town hall meeting in Dania Beach, Fla. Later he makes remarks in Miami.

* Mike Huckabee attends fund-raisers in Winter Park and Windemere, Fla. He also hosts a media availability in Orlando, and attends Quixar’s “We the People” event in West Des Moines, Iowa, later in the evening.

*John McCain holds a campaign rally in Des Moines, a town hall meeting in Clear Lake, Iowa, and a meet and greet in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In the evening, he meets with the press in Waterloo, Iowa, followed by a house party hosted by the Iowa Christian Alliance in Cedar Falls.

* Barack Obama delivers a foreign policy speech in Des Moines in the morning, followed by “meet the candidate” events in Nevada, Marshalltown, Toledo, and Vinton, Iowa.

* Ron Paul is a guest on the “Situation Room” in the afternoon, and gives a speech and holds a meet and greet and press availability in Des Moines in the evening.

* Bill Richardson holds “Presidential Job Interviews” in Denison, Carroll, Jefferson, and Boone, Iowa. In the evening, he attends a house party in Story City, Iowa.

* Mitt Romney meets with voters in at two morning events in Nashua, N.H., two events in Manchester, and one afternoon event in Bedford, N.H.

* Fred Thompson participates in a live radio interview, then meets with voters in Urbandale, Iowa, participates in a radio town hall event at in Osceola, Iowa, tours downtown Chariton, Iowa and drops by the Chariton Leader, and meets voters in Knoxville, Iowa.

This came out at the same time that Hillary declared that she is fit to lead on Day One.

Here is a sample quote from the article –

“Associates from that time said that she was aware of Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and what her husband has in recent years characterized as his intense focus on them, but that she made no aggressive independent effort to shape policy or gather information about the threat of terrorism.

She did not wrestle directly with many of the other challenges the next president will face, including managing a large-scale deployment — or withdrawal — of troops abroad, an overhaul of the intelligence agencies or the effort to halt the spread of nuclear weapons technology. Most of her exposure to the military has come since she left the White House through her seat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. ”

I leave it up to you if we’re in for a crap shoot with Hillary Clinton and her Rovian-like “Pick a President” speech.

Does anyone find it funny how HRC criticizes bush and then perpetrates the one tactic bush is famous for: fear mongering…”if anything unpredictable happens… she said”…HRC is the liberal version of bush honestly…

Barack Obama has outlined his vision of American leadership and his approach to national security policy in major speeches delivered in April, October, and December as well as in his article in Foreign Affairs. He understands that, in the 21st Century, America’s security and prosperity is inextricably linked to the security and well-being of people in far-flung parts of the world.

Obama, however, has gone beyond broad vision to share with voters detailed plans:

I agree that with the election of Obama America will present a new fresh face to the world. with Obama America will have achane to restore its leadership role and moral authority. We need 21st century leadership — bold new ideas. WE must let go of the problems and politics of teh 1990s and look for new future forward solutions. Soultions which embrace the new technologies and the new economic realities. Obama. Obama.

Criticism of Hilary’s experience does not some how make Obama more experienced on foreign policy. As thin as her record is, his is no better. She was obviously not the assistant President as she makes herself out to be, but it’s ridiculous to claim that she gained no experience while working/serving in the White House for 8 years.

And frankly, if you really care about foreign policy experience, then you should be voting for Biden.

The country is not ready to accept Obama as its leader. He is a rookie, less popular than Edwards or even Rudy. Has no experience and shoots darts in the dark hoping something will click. He thought Oprah may do it, but that hoopla failed miserably.
Hillary is the next President of United States. Obama is history.

Number 4, I agree with you wholeheartedly! Candidates talk about how they hate where GW has brought us…and then people like Bill’s wife tell us, well, as long as you are scared….vote for me! IM NOT SCARED!!! I dont need to vote for someone to rescue me. I need someone who is going to put the right face on America.
Obama’s view represents how I want to feel: America is great and we dont need to be scared. We just need to exercise some more soft power.
Go Obama ’08

The choice id not between a candidate who “is ready to be president on Day One” and one who is not. The only thing that prepares you for the presidency is being the president. Being married to one, like being the son of one, may be useful, but it does not make you prepared.

The real choice we face is a candidate who is smart enough to know that nothing can prepare you for that job other than the job itself and one who, wrongly, thinks she already knows everything there is to know about how to be president. The likelihood of a cascade of early arrogant mistakes makes the latter the real “roll of the dice.”

To all those who claim that we should vote for HRC because she “knows” what it’s like to be in the White House, does this mean we should always vote for family members or spouses of former presidents? How about we just do away with term limits all together? Such comments are a slap in the face of democracy and I hope you will think about the consequences of such an outlook. We have had another 8 years of Bushes we certainly don’t need another eight years of Clintons.

It’s well past time for us to move into the 21st century and begin to re-gain our credibility and moral authority as a strong and positive leader in the world community. That job would take a giant step forward with the election of Barack Obama as president. He has stellar credentials and the intelligence and personal attributes to lead this country well. Time moves forward and the 1990’s are over. Vote Obama ’08.

To Perry #5: What exactly do you want Obama to talk about Bhutto? This is indeed a very sad day for Democracy all over the world. It is a time for reflection. Of course we Americans don’t want to walk around scared, but Bhutto’s suicide bomber attach and shot in her neck is a reminder of what happened on Sept 11, 2001. These radicals not only hate people like Bhutto, but they really hate America. America needs a person with real foreign policy experience,to make peace as well as stand our ground. I like Senator Clinton, but the person who I feel has the most foreign policy experience is Senator Joe Biden. We all like fresh faces, new beginnings, people who give smooth speeches that calm our souls, but during these tumultous times,we need an experience hand to guide us. That person right now is not Obama.

I am amazed to find out how well Obama is doing in the polls! I suspect it’s more a reflection on our naivete than his competence! Obama, like Huckabee, talks more like an evangelist than a politician, giving fiery and inspiring speeches, speaking more about generalities than specifics, appealing more to our emotions than to our intellect and we know what happens to evangelists when they try to run for president! How can we forget the unsuccessful attempts made by Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson? I suspect ultimately we will wise up, as we have done in the past, and send Obama back to the Senate where he belongs!

First of all, Obama is an extremely intelligent person. This is undisputed. Some of the most brilliant minds of our time, like Lawrence Tribe, have said he is one of the smartest man they’ve ever met. Second of all, he is getting the endoresement of one of the leaders in foreign affairs. It really boggles the mind that some would says he’s not capable of taking on the presidency. He is absolutely nothing like Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson, not the least of which is because he does not have a career in religion, and anyone saying so really is not credible as a commentator. People who believe that we should vote for HRC because she “knows” the White House are really being unfaithful to what democracy is. So should we elect only spouses or children of past presidents? Why don’t we get rid of term limits altogether? I really hope people will rethink this outlook, look where it’s gotten us as a country so far.

Obama is the LEAST qualified candidate of either party on foreign policy. He just is.

— Posted by George

Nice. “He just is.” So you’re not even going to try to back that up? I think that really sums up the irrationality of everyone’s doubts of Obama. When it comes down to it, there’s not much you guys can say.

#21
He has no foreign policy experience. What more needs to be said? How can I give examples of something which does not exist? Every other candidate has some experience in foreign affairs, except him and Giuliani. That’s it.
And, in a time of any kind of crisis, I don’t want some amateur in charge of my fate. I want someone who knows what the hell they’re doing and not someone who is only in this for the applause and personal glorification of his already bloated ego.
You Obama cheerleaders are really ridiculous. You just applaud and say, “Isn’t he wonderful” without ever considering how he would handle a real national problem down the road.
No, thanks. I want a viper with a heart. I want someone that no world leader would dare mess with. I want someone who gives a damn about women and kids and the future. I want someone who won’t pretend to be a Christian moralizer. And I want someone who will not cave to conservatives as easily as Obama would (in the name of bi-partisanship).
I am voting for Hillary Clinton and the more I hear about Obama, the less appealing he becomes.

Mrs. Clinton continually touts her “experience”. If this “experience” is truly a recommendation for higher office, shouldn’t we equate that “experience” as contributing to the catastrophic state of affairs in our country? Do we really need more of her “experience?” I don’t think so.

President Obama drew criticism on Thursday when he said, “we don’t have a strategy yet,” for military action against ISIS in Syria. Lawmakers will weigh in on Mr. Obama’s comments on the Sunday shows.Read more…